I'm hoping someone might be able to help me find a new lead for my grandmother's side of the family tree. Jane Anderson married James Wylie in McQuiston Memorial Presbyterian Church, Belfast in 1894 when she was 19. She was living in the Castlereagh Road area at the time and her father is listed as William Anderson, a grocer.
On further investigation I know Jane's mother was also called Jane as she was living with her daughter and son-in-law on both the 1901 and 1911 census, listed as married in the former and widowed in the latter (presumably her husband died somewhere in the intervening years, though I have been unable to find him on the 1901 census). Jane is buried with her daughter and a granddaughter, Jane Anderson Wylie, who died in infancy, in the Wylie family plot in Belfast.
From there I was able to track back to a birth record of my grandmother being born on 5th March 1875 to William Anderson and Jane Anderson Anderson, so (again presumably) her mother was an Anderson before she married. There does appear to be a wedding record for a William John Anderson, a confectioner, who married a Jane Anderson in 1869 which is a very strong possibility but as of yet unconfirmed. My grandfather James Wylie was also listed as a grocer on his wedding cert and by 1901 is a bread server, so it may have been that their occupations changed with the times.
So, beyond being able to add that my father had a cousin called John Anderson in the States when he travelled across in the 1920's, that is the sum total of my knowledge and I really have no idea where to go from here. I was born when my father was in his sixties so never thought to ask any of these questions before he died but can tell you his brothers had Charles, Waddell and Robert as part of their names which don't seem to come from the Wylie side of the family. The same goes for my father, who was Albert Alexander, neither of which appear in the consistantly repetitive naming of children in that line going right back to the late eighteenth century. I know sometimes names help, sometimes they don't, but thought I would mention it just in case. If anyone can point me in the right direction or offer some advice about what to do next, I would be deeply grateful.
Many thanks,
Trish
